Young drivers
In 2023 in the UK around one in 5 of all killed or seriously injured casualties from collisions involving cars were in collisions involving a young car driver (Department for Transport, 2024).
In the age group 17-24 young male car drivers are 4 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured compared to all car drivers aged over 25 (Department for Transport, 2024)
The most common contributory factor in this group of vulnerable road users is "driver failed to look properly"
Other factors are:
"loss of control", exceeding the speed limit" and "learner or inexperienced driver"
(Department for Transport, 2024)
LCC road safety team are working in collaboration with FirstCar media using the medium of TikTok to reach out to this vulnerable group. You can also access free page turner magazines for young drivers and motorcyclists.
Drink driving
Young men are over-represented in drink drive casualties, many intend to be sensible but get carried away when socialising and it can be quite challenging to know what personal limits are in relation to driving. In 2022, 79% of drivers in drink-drive collisions were male.
The legal limit for alcohol in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood or 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Trouble is- what does that mean and what does it look like?
It is different for everyone, but evidence suggests that it takes the body around one hour to process one unit of alcohol once a person has ceased drinking. The average 5.2% beer contains about 3 units of alcohol. This alone could take 3 hours for the body to process once drinking has been completed and put many drivers over the legal limit.
Think! has launched it's latest drink driving campaign for the festive season. It is encouraging drivers to opt for 0% alcohol.